Aria

Aria producer Don Boyd could never have anticipated that twenty-two years after his film’s release, multiplex cinemas would be screening pristinely filmed opera performances to packed houses. But then maybe projects such as his have much to do with this. Ten short films by ten renowned directors giving their take on a classic opera piece, Aria triumphs and suffers in the way that all portmanteau films do: yes, it’s a hit and miss affair. The low points (Robert Altman’s overlong gaze at an unconventional audience; Bruce Beresford’s soft-focus cheesecake; Julien Temple’s bedroom farce), however, are outweighed by the good stuff: Nicholas Roeg’s witty and masterfully constructed assassination tale; Franc Roddam’s Vegas tragedy; or Ken Russell’s Nessun Dorma, which should obliterate all memories of a weeping Paul Gascoigne forever. Though occasionally reliant on MTV aesthetics, the film has aged surprisingly well, and while it can be esoteric and even pretentious (you know who you are, Monsieur Godard), it's also moving and endlessly re-watchable.